


Thunder of the ocean

by Steangine



Series: AoKuro Week 2k16 [3]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: AoKuro Week 2k16, Day 2, M/M, Pokemon AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-12
Updated: 2016-05-12
Packaged: 2018-06-08 01:07:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6832630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steangine/pseuds/Steangine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aomine Daiki wants to become a Pokémon trainer, but everything seems to go wrong from the start.<br/>Kuroko Tetsuya knows he is too weak to become a Pokémon trainer, but everything can happen.<br/>[AoKuro Week 2k16. Day 2: "Pokémon"]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thunder of the ocean

**Author's Note:**

> Not very much Pokémon things. The part with Squirtle and Swablu is my favorite. Written for the AoKuro week 2k16.

At the age of 12 children were allowed to have their first Pokémon and to leave their native town. Choosing the first Pokémon was an hard task and every single children felt a mixed feeling of impatience and unease: they couldn’t wait, especially with all those Pokémon they saw every day, but at the same time they weren’t sure on what Pokémon to choose as a first partner. Only few children didn’t change idea every two days and Aomine Daiki was one of them.

At the age of 8, Daiki casually opened a book with colored illustrations of Pokémon and the first one he saw, was a magnificent Articuno with his long tail swirling in a snowy air. Daiki was amazed by that view and he wasn’t sure of what would have been his future, but he was sure his first Pokémon would have been an Articuno.

At the age of 10, when he was allowed to attend to a choose of the first Pokémon, Daiki surrendered to the fact that he couldn’t have an Articuno as a first partner – Articuno was a legendary Pokémon, he had to work for it. However he could choose an ice type and, from that day on, he read whatever he could about ice Pokémon and learnt every single attack, mimicking them with his stuffed toys.

At the age 11, two months before his 12th birthday, the alarm clock’s batteries expired, his mom didn’t notice and Daiki woke up late. So, when he arrived at the Pokémon Farm, there was only a Pokémon left. And it wasn’t an ice type.

“It’s not fair.” He run away from the Farm, as he didn’t want Professor Shirogane to see him crying. “Not fair.” He repeated sniffing with tears rolling down his cheeks. “I wanted an ice type and all I have now is a rat!”

He turned his face and met the eyes of his Pikachu, who sighed at him.

“I don’t like you either, you know?!”

Daiki took out the pokéball and threw it at him, but Pikachu repelled it with a hit of his tail and looked triumphant at his new master.

“Ugh, let me go!”

But despite his words, Pikachu followed him as he was walking towards the river. From time to time Daiki muttered short and resentful words like “I’m not leaving anymore.” Or “When I’ll have an ice Pokémon I’ll abandon him.”

Near the river he grasped a pebble. Despite all the strength and wrath he put into his effort of ripping the flowing surface, the water exploded in few drops that suddenly disappeared in the stream. Pikachu sighed behind him and Daiki let all his nervousness leave his mouth.

“Then you do it! You stupid yellow rat!”

It looked like Pikachu didn’t consider Daiki to be important enough even only to reply to his intolerance; he showed him his back and sat down on the grass.

“You–“

Daiki had a huge amount of bad words to spill on his first Pokémon, however some harsh voices interrupted him.

Some boys, not so far from him, created a circle. Daiki couldn’t see who was in the middle of it, but experience told him that whoever was there, was suffering from their kicks and laughs.

“Hey you!” In a dash he arrived behind them. “Stop it right now!”

They were all guys from his school, Daiki had seen their faces before, but he had never talked to them because of their bad behavior. And mostly because they always used the strength of the group to bully other people.

Only one of the boys turned to give him a glare.

“What do you want?”

His voice stopped all his companions, who gave Daiki the same look. All the self-confidence Daiki had when he shouted at them disappeared in an instant, but he proudly stood and stuck his chest out.

“Stop doing… whatever you are doing!”

The group chuckled.

“Or what?” One of them advanced towards Daiki and laughed as he retreated of one single step. “Are you going to tell your mother?”

“No! I’m going to–“

A thin and flashy lightning darted in front of Daiki’s eyes and hit the ground, barely missing the feet of the bully.

“Wh–hey! You are not allowed to use your Pokémon until you’ll leave the town and gain at least a medal!!!”

Daiki read on the boys’ faces expressions of astonishment and fear; at first he thought they were looking at him, but they were staring at a point behind him.

“ _Pika_ _…_ ”

Daiki lowered his eyes: Pikachu was slowly walking on two legs and stopped next to him without diverting his severe eyes from the group.

“ _Pika_ _._ ”

He repeated in a threating voice as sparks glimmered on his round red cheeks.

For how little he was, the boys knew that a Pokémon could be a danger for a human, so, right after the first of them went back to his senses and escaped, the others flew away with him. Daiki clearly heard a voice saying “And my mother told me not to bring around my pokéball!”

Now that they were gone, Daiki and Pikachu clearly saw who was the poor victim of those bullies: a little boy with clear blue hair curled around a bowl of glass with something tiny and red floating in it. Before Daiki could ask him if everything was okay, the boy stood up and wobbled to the river, filling the bowl with water.

“Are you okay?”

No reply. Daiki exchanged a quick look with Pikachu before running over him.

“Hey! Is everything okay?”

The boy turned towards him: his clothes were dirtied in soil, his arms and face were covered in bruises and some drops of blood fell from his left nostril to his t-shirt. He suddenly jolted and held on to the bowl, frowning with a determined look.

“No no, don’t worry! I don’t want to hurt you.”

Daiki stretched his neck, trying to figure out what was into the bowl, but the boy pushed it aside to hide it with his body. Pikachu took the chance and stuck his face inside to look at the red thing.

“ _Pika_ _?_ ”

“Pikachu! Stop it!”

However the boy let the Pokémon inspect the inhabitant of the bowl and didn’t push him away as he did with Daiki who, seriously angered by the situation, walked around and finally discovered what he had been protecting with all his might: inside the bowl there was a tiny Magikarp -just a bit bigger than their tiny hands- who was keeping swimming against the glass as if he wanted to escape from Pikachu.

“He is not a threat, Magikarp.”

The boy spoke with a firm but calm voice.

“Ah, so you can speak.” Daiki kneeled. “And I’m not a threat either, you know?” He glanced at the Magikarp. “Is your Pokémon okay?”

“He is not my Pokémon.”

“…eh?”

“He is my friend.”

Daiki wrinkled is nose. “Whatever…” He stuck a hand inside his shorts’ pocket and showed some plasters. “Here, you should use them.”

The wait for the reply was silent and Daiki found himself swallowing his own saliva. That boy didn’t blink much and his eyes were really huge; he reminded him of a doll.

“Thank you.”

Daiki breathed again.

He observed the way the boy opened the plasters, looking like an adult in the gestures, but trembled a bit before putting them on the most painful wounds.

“Ah, I’ll put this on your nose.”

Daiki took back a plaster and mashed it on the nose of the boy with more strength than he intended to and made him moan in pain.

“Ugh, sorry!” He heard the pitiful sigh of Pikachu and glared at him. “You shut up!”

The boy chuckled. “It is nice having a Pokémon.”

“No… it isn’t.” Daiki let himself fell down on the grass. “By the way, what’s your name?”

“Kuroko Tetsuya. And yours?”

“Aomine Daiki.”

Kuroko was sit down with his arms around the knees and was looking at Pikachu, who kept running around the bowl attempting to face Magikarp.

“Sorry Pikachu, he is quite shy.”

Pikachu stopped and turned towards Tetsuya.

“ _Pika_ _?_ ”

“I think he faced bad things before I found him.”

Daiki propped up on his elbows. “You found him?! Didn’t Shirogane give him to you?”

Tetsuya shook his head. “No. I found him three months ago trapped in a plastic bag near the river.”

“I wonder why… I mean, Magikarp are weak but then they evolve into Gyrados. Once my dad told me they captured some people that were smuggling Magikarp ready to evolve. You know, he is a policeman!”

“But this Magikarp won’t evolve…” Tetsuya saddened. “I brought him to the Pokémon Center. They healed him. Then I brought him to professor Shirogane and he told me that this Magikarp won’t evolve.”

“Is it possible?” Daiki sat down. “I mean, every Pokémon evolves!”

“He said it’s rare, but some Pokémon don’t evolve.”

“Use a Water Stone.”

“He is too weak and he’ll surely lose his life.”

Daiki blinked. “Lose his life?”

“It means that he’ll die.”

“Oh…”

“Professor Shirogane wanted to keep him because he had never seen such a little Magikarp, usually they’re much bigger.”

“Really? I’ve seen them only on photos, so I didn’t know…”

Except for Ice type, Daiki had never gathered many information about other Pokémons, so he only knew the names and nothing about their weight, dimensions or skills.

“But why do you keep him?”

“After the first day at the Farm he didn’t eat anything. I went over to see if he were okay and as soon as he saw me he started eating and looked happier. So Professor Shirogane said that in the end it was like raising a goldfish and let me take him.”

Pikachu too sat down and it looked like he was listening with interest; Magikarp, in his bowl, was still swimming in the half further to the other Pokémon. Tetsuya took the bowl and Magikarp relaxed; Daiki observed how the Pokémon approached the surface of the water when Tetsuya bended his head closer.

“I think he can evolve.” Daiki stated.

“Why?”

“Because you like him and he likes you.”

“But Professor Shirogane said–“

“He also promised me I would have received an ice type Pokémon and he gave the last one to that stupid Ryouta because this Pikachu kept bullying him and didn’t want to follow him!”

“Bullying?” Tetsuya looked at Pikachu. “He seems such a nice Pokémon.”

“No, he isn’t. Trust me.”

Daiki and Pikachu glared at each other before diverting their eyes.

“But he followed you, right?”

“Yes, but…”

“You can always catch an ice Pokémon.”

“But it’ll take me ages to reach a place where there are ice Pokémon and I won’t leave before two months.” He sighed. “How about you? When will you receive your first Pokémon?”

“This year at the end of November. I’ll turn twelve the 31st January, next year.”

“So maybe we’ll meet and have a battle!”

“Maybe…” Tetsuya tapped gently on the glass and Magikarp kissed that part of the bowl. “This year I had the trial and no Pokémon obeyed me. Probably I’ll become a scholar.”

“A scholar?”

“Someone who studies Pokémon on the lab. With data you don’t really have to be respected by Pokémon.”

“But Magikarp respects you!”

“We are both weak. And he is my friend.”

“Yes… and Pikachu? How about him?” Pikachu, hearing his name, simply yawned and gave them his back. “Okay, he doesn’t count. But you have lots of time. When you’ll turn ten Pokémon will know you are ready.”

“Uhm, are you sure?”

“Yes, trust me!”

“Okay… I trust you.”

Daiki smirked and Tetsuya smiled. They didn’t know it yet, but they had just become friend.

 

 

 

Two months passed so fast that Daiki and Tetsuya barely start enjoying their friendship before Daiki had to leave to start his journey as a Pokémon trainer. Daiki tried not to cry as he said goodbye and Tetsuya pretended not to see his tears while he hid his.

“When you’ll be back, we’ll meet again.”

“What if Tetsu will be around the world beating some Gym Leader?”

Tetsuya wanted to reply “ _I won’t._ ”, but he was so happy that Daiki believed in him more than he believed in himself, so he simply said “Yes. It would be a problem.”

Daiki jumped as his neck to hug him and Tetsuya widened his eyes in surprise as he felt a warm kiss on his cheek.

“Take care, Tetsu.”

And Daiki left.

They didn’t meet for three years.

Even if they kept in contact, both were too busy to say something more than a nostalgic greeting. When Daiki, after more than one year, came back to his town had the pleasant surprise of having a chat call with Tetsuya from the office of Professor Shirogane; it looked like Tetsuya managed to work in a special center near the northern ocean where abandoned Pokémonor Pokémon who were hurt so bad they couldn’t take care of themselves anymore, were taken care of. Daiki was both happy and sad for him and, before he could ask to see Magikarp, the storm that was howling outside was pierced by a thunder that cut the power.

Another year and a half passed and Daiki, after getting the first place in the league of his region, decided it was time to go and conquer the League of the North. He didn’t hesitat in his choice, as he had two good reasons: one was that in the northern lands he would have had more chances to find an Articuno, and the other one, probably the most important, was that the Pokémon Center where Tetsu worked was settled in the same town where lived one of the toughest gym leaders of that League. The idea of a new challenge triggered him, but not more than the idea of meeting again with his friend.

“It’s cold…”

Pikachu, hidden into Daiki’s hood, sneezed.

“At least you could go back into your pokéball! You should thank mom that made you winter clothes!”

Pikachu’s ears twitched of annoyance under his pink handmade hat. Daiki couldn’t see him, but perceived the menace.

“I swear Pikachu that if you use thunder shock on me again I’m going to use you as a bait for an Articuno!”

Since that town was on the northern lands, Daiki hoped to see some snow, but he only could see it whitening the tips of the far mountains. That lowered his moral more than he had imagined.

When he saw at the end of the road a huge building that corresponded to what he saw into the photographs and that reported the sign “Pokémon Rescue Center”, a smile brightened his face and he started running. The automatic doors opened and a burst of heat welcomed him.

“Good afternoon!”

He dashed to the information desk with an impetuous that scared the man working at the computer. After one minute all the expectations Daiki had before entering that place crumbled: Tetsuya wasn’t there at the moment.

“And when may I find him?” He read the name on the label. “Fukuda?”

“I don’t know. Today is his day off. Even if he usually shows up, we never know when precisely.”

After a pit stop to the café of the center to warm his body with some tea and food, Daiki decided he would have showed Tetsuya his first medal of the northern league when they would have met. So he had to find a Pokémon Healthcare Center to put his Pokémon back in shape after the long journey and walked to the coast, where the gym dominated the view.

When Daiki went off from the train he thought the immense glass building was a structure of the harbor. Then he noticed the harbor was a bit further from the town and the station master told him that was the Pokémon gym.

“What?!”

But he didn’t tell him that the gym closed so early.

“It closes at 12 pm?! I can’t believe it!”

Daiki moved the label in front of the main gate and repeatedly pressed the button of the intercom at every word he screamed.

“Helloooo!!! Is there anyone here?! I need to get a medal and show it to a friend!”

The only reply he got was a long and gloomy silence in the dim light of that cold afternoon. The sky was turning dark and Daiki didn’t know what to do except for going back to the inn.

“I can’t believe it.”

He turned his back and a crack surprised him from behind. Daiki felt Pikachu gripping his tiny paws on his scarf and both turned around: the door had opened a bit and the head of a Swablu hooted at them.

“Uhm… hello?” Daiki scratched his head. “I’m here to challenge the gym leader and–“

“I’m sorry, but the gym leader accepts challenges only in the morning.”

Daiki jolted at the voice. His attention had been drawn by the Swablu so he didn’t notice the boy on whose head the Pokémon was resting.

“Tetsu!”

Tetsuya didn’t change at all. He looked like the last time they met, before they departed for all that time, but just a bit more mature and a lot more shorter; Daiki remembered that he didn’t have to bend his neck that much to talk to him when they were children.

“I can’t believe it! Why are you here?” He smirked. “That Swablu suits you!”

As he said that, the Swablu flapped his fluffy wings in the air three times and made a tiny jump, floating above their heads and landing on Daiki’s. Despite his cute looking, he was quite heavy, added to Pikachu’s weight he had on his neck and shoulders.

“T-Tetsu?”

“Swablu.” Tetsuya’s voice was firm and calm. “I told you that staying on people’s heads isn’t a good thing.”

Swablu hooted again; Pikachu showed his head beyond his plumage, his face was angered. Tetsuyareached out his right arm.

“Swablu.”

The Pokémon, more because of Pikachu’s threating aura than Tetsuya’s authority, flew back to Tetsuya’s head. Tetsuya remained with his arm straight in front of him for few seconds before lowering it.

“Swablu, on the arm next time.”

Swablu chirped again happily and wrapped her soft wings around her blue body.

“Tetsu, I think he is going to sleep.”

“Oh dear…” He sighed. “Next time I won’t give up to her sweet eyes and let her stay at the center.”

“Oh, it’s a female.”

Tetsuya entered the gym and made sign to Daiki to follow him.

He was used to all kinds of gyms, from those very simple, with only one huge hall, to those that were labyrinths; he still remembered when he had to face all those endless corridors filled with Shadow Pokémon. But that gym had nothing particular, there was one huge field and a small door opposite to the main one; the lights were almost all turned off and only few little ones were illuminating the area. Even when he faced the one area-gym of the rock Pokémon gym leader Nebuya Eikichi, the surrounding space looked like the landscape of a canyon.

“Tetsu, why are you here?”

“I’m taking care of some Pokémon. In the morning we let Water Pokémon swim in the Ocean, but after lunch we bring them here on the main area of the gym. This is a sort of a branch of the Rescue Center. We use it for Pokémon of huge dimensions.”

Daiki walked behind him as Tetsuya was leading the way to the small door.

“By the way, Daiki-kun, it’s bothersome speaking here. It won’t take me much time to finish my work. Then we can go drink something warm and talk.”

“Of course! What are you going to do?”

It was strange. Daiki had so many things he wanted to ask to Tetsuya and instead of bombarding him with questions to fill at least part of the void between them, he followed him to the small door. Tetsuya opened it, making a ray of bright light cutting the semi-dark, and turned with a strange embarrassed expression.

“There are lots of things I want to ask you. And your medals… you told me you won the league, I saw the photographs. Ah, I kept those from the magazines.”

Daiki felt a warm happiness running through his body and chuckled.

“Ahahah, Tetsu, you sound like being a fan of mine.”

“Well… I am.”

The lack of light made Daiki hope that Tetsuya couldn’t see his face burning in red.

“Ah, but Tetsu–“

Tetsuya opened the door and he was overwhelmed by two boys taller and ticker than him. Daiki stared at the read and brown heads who were speaking at the same time and gesticulating pointing to and fro at themselves and at a point behind them.

“Tetsuya!”

They shrieked at the same time, so loud that Swablu decided to fly away, but the red head was faster to take the first word.

“I’m going to make a soup with that Squirtle! He hid in the tank to get here! It’s the third time this week!”

“Lapras tried to escape! Again!”

Tetsuya nodded at their words. “Okay, but I let you alone something like two minutes…”

The read head snorted. “Hey, I raise Fire types! I don’t know how to deal with Water Pokémon!”

The other guy had a Squirtle wearing sunglasses on his back and completely seemed to ignore his companion’s complains. “I think Lapras is stuck in the canal connecting the pool to the Ocean. What should we do, Tetsuya?”

“Don’t worry Shigehiro-kun. I’m going to take him out of there. But the Pokémon are disobedient only when I leave them with you. Reflect on that.”

“You can’t always blame us! Those Water Pokémon hate me, that’s it!”

“Taiga-kun…”

Daiki walked around the trio, leaving them at their discussion, and entered the main room.  
The landscape that opened in front of him was so huge he couldn’t actually believe that from outside the gym looked smaller than that. It seemed like a part of the Ocean had been translated there: the glass walls gave the impression the inside water almost continued outside as the tides, in that windy day, followed the same rhythm of the choppy waves of the Ocean. A system of tiny corridors without balustrade run a few centimeters above the water around the perimeter and, on opposite sides, there were two round overhead platforms big enough to host a single person per time. They were so far that Daiki could barely recognize for association what there was on the other side.

Daiki stared at the water, hoping to see any Pokémon swimming in there, however he wasn’t able to detect a single movement of the surface that made him think of something behind moving. Pikachu was thrusting out from Daiki’s shoulder but he neither saw a single shadow.

“ _Pika_ _?_ ”

“Oi Tetsu. Where are the other Pokémon?”

For the first time those two, Taiga and Shigehiro, noticed there was someone else besides them and Tetsuya.

“They are probably swimming deep down.” He explained. “From this part of the land, the Ocean is a sudden cliff and when they built the gym they reproduced it. So please, since it’s slippery, be careful not to fall down.”

Daiki was on the edge of the boardwalk, kneeled with his face as close to the water as he could.

“W-wow. It’s fantastic!”

The read head one, Taiga, took a step forward. “Who is he?”

“A friend of mine.”

“Ah! I know him!” Shigehiro pointed at Daiki. “He won the Teikou League some months ago! Sorry pal!” He gave some packs on Tetsuya’s back. “Tetsuya here, when he took the lead of the gym, stated that on the afternoon the pool is only for Pokémon so no challenges for the medal!”

“Shigehiro-kun!”

Daiki blinked. “What?”

“Uhm… Daiki-kun, I wanted to tell you in another way but–“

“Tetsu you are the Gym Leader here, aren’t you?”

Daiki felt a smile tickling his face, spreading from the eyes to the mouth, and it grew from a small curve of his lips to a huge grin. When Tetsuya nodded, Daiki let his joy burst and he exploded in a cry of happiness while jumping at his friend with a hug. However Daiki didn’t consider the gap in between their strength and Tetsuya wasn’t able to stop the leap that pushed them over the boardwalk. They fell in the water with a noisy splash.

Pikachu, who had jumped away right before Daiki had dashed towards Tetsuya, stared at the point where they sand with the same astonishment on the faces of Taiga and Ogiwara.

“ _Pika_ _._ ”

They didn’t go under so much for their figures to disappear, but behind them a darker shadow became bigger and bigger, until the water itself started to whirl under the strength of the Pokémon that was going to surface. The water broke into an explosion of drops that soaked the surroundings, including the boys and Pikachu, who tried to hide behind Taiga’s legs.

The nuked water looked like a thin mist, but it didn’t last long. When it disappeared, against the transparent ceiling and the artificial lights of the gym stood out a majestic Mega Gyarados. At the top of his head there was Daiki, who was coughing and holding a calm and quiet Tetsuya into his arms. Mega Gyarados, despite his fearsome appearance, bended with agility until half of his head disappeared under the water and Tetsuya and Daiki could glide down to the dry land.

“Thank you, Gyarados.”

Daiki fell down sat, while Tetsuya managed to stand on his feet. He was caressing in between the closed eyes of the Mega Gyarados who was gladly accepting his cuddles.

“Please, go check on Lapras, would you?”

The Pokémon nodded and disappeared again under water.

“Tetsu… he is…”

Tetsuya smiled.

“Yes. He is the Magikarp I saved.”

Daiki stared at the point where Mega Gyrados disappeared, then he turned to Tetsuya with a huge grin.

“Tetsu, you did it!”

He leaped on his feet, but Tetsuya, sensing the danger, reached out his arms in a silent sign of stop.

“I think a bath in cold water per day is enough. We should go change.”

“Tetsu, let’s have a challenge.”

“Daiki-kun, we’ll catch a cold.”

“Come on! I came here first because I wanted to see you and challenge the gym leader! Don’t make me wait any further!”

Taiga crossed his arms. “Oi, since he is the gym leader you should listen to him.”

“What do you want?!”

“Hey! Don’t talk at me like that!”

Both Pikachu and Squirtle sighed. Shigehiro didn’t know what to do, so he turned towards Tetsuya with a questioning look.

“…alright, alright. Please, calm down.”

However his voice didn’t reach them. Daiki and Taiga were facing each other with an unusual anger that made them look ferocious.

“Daiki-kun. Taiga-kun.”

He tried to raise his voice, but it was swallowed by Taiga’s growl towards Daiki.

“Guys, please… maybe I should have Mega Gyrados use hydro pump on them.”

“Tetsuya please don’t say it while looking so serious.” Shigehiro tilted his head. “They look alike.”

“You say?”

Tetsuya felt something tapping on his leg. Squirtle was silently asking to be held and Tetsuya took him. He was starting to feel cold because of the water still dripping from him, while Squirtle felt at ease with that wet contact.

“Daiki! Taiga!”

He raised his voice enough to stop them badmouthing at each other. Shigehiro stared at him in surprise and didn’t dare to say anything.

“Daiki-kun, I’m accepting your challenge. Go and change your clothes, meanwhile I’ll check on Lapras and make sure to take out the Pokémon from here.”

Taiga wrinkled his nose. “Don’t tell me you want us to prepare the outside cage to contain the Pokémon?”

Tetsuya nodded, making him raise his eyes.

“You sure look like cotton candy but are a tyrant!” He pointed his finger at Shigehiro and menaced him. “At least you accompany that one to change his clothes.”

_ That one _ was Daiki, who was still too amazed at Taiga’s description of Tetsuya to realize he was going to accomplish his goal.

“…what?”

Shigehiro smiled at him. “I called Tetsuya like that for the first time. When he gets out from water and doesn’t dry his hair suddenly, he looks like a swablu cotton candy. Taiga is the one who calls him tyrant though.”

Daiki looked at Tetsuya.

“…tyrant? Nah, no way!”

 

 

 

“Cotton candy tyrant.”

That nickname was more than suited, as the Swablu was again using Tetsuya’s head as a nest. Since when he had been told that, Daiki couldn’t stop thinking about it. He was trying not to burst out and guffawing, but his cheeks were bloated in laughs and he wasn’t sure he could control himself.

“Daiki-kun, that’s not nice.”

In the end he released all his restraint and a sincere and happy laugh flew away.

“Tetsu, you changed a lot in these years!” He managed to say while keeping his stomach. “A lot.”

“You changed a lot too.” Tetsuya smiled. “Now, what’s the next gym?”

“I think I’ll take some time. I want an Articuno.”

“Still the old dream?”

“Yes.”

Tetsuya kept gazing at the huge clock in the railway station. Only few minutes and Daiki would have left again.

“If you drop by the Rakuzan region, you’ll have more chance. There’s a friend of mine, Mayuzumi Chihiro, he is an expert of Ice Pokémon. Probably he’ll help you. But bring some light novels as a present.”

“Mayuzumi Chihiro…”

“I’ll send you a message with his name.”

“Hey! I have a good memory!”

Tetsuya chuckled. “I know… Daiki-kun, you are really strong.”

“No, you are. You used only three Pokémon and almost beat me. I had six.”

“But now you have a medal. That’s what counts.”

“Yup.”

Daiki looked at him. He wondered how his travel would have been if Tetsuya could have followed him.

“Tetsu, I’ll come back as soon as I’ll have an Articuno.”

“I count on it.”

“Man… I wanted to talk to you more, I feel like we didn’t say everything.”

“We spent the night talking. But I think you are right… next time.”

“Next time for sure!”

Daiki showed his fist, Tetsuya bumped it.

“Daiki-kun, if you lose this train…”

“Yes, I know.”

The ticket inspector was walking towards the closest entrance, so Daiki climbed on the second step of the wagon.

“Tetsu, now that I have a mobile we can keep in touch more easily.”

“But don’t call me every day.”

“Why not?”

Tetsuya smiled. “I have to work and you have an Articuno who’s waiting for you.”

There was barely a minute left and Daiki scratched his head.

“Well then…”

“Daiki.”

Tetsuya jumped on the first step and grabbed Daiki’s coat, forcing him to bend down. He gave him a soft and tender kiss on the lips before stepping back.

“Please Daiki, take care!”

The door closed in front of them and the train started moving. Daiki pressed his nose on the window and didn’t divert his eyes from Tetsuya until he became a tiny spot and disappeared in the distance. He remained on the second step, staring with blank eyes at the void until Pikachu smacked his tail on his head.

“Hey! You!”

Pikachu jumped down from his shoulders and grinned, puckering his licks in a mimic of a kiss.

“Stupid rat!” Daiki flushed. “Let’s go find our seat!!!”

**Author's Note:**

> Pikachu is a dick.


End file.
